In preparation for the upcoming callback meeting - please take a look at recent recommendations for Teacher Preparation Programs and post a brief reflection regarding your pre-service experience and what you might recommend an ideal program include.

3 comments:

My teacher preparation program included a practicum in both a suburban and urban school system. I found the urban practicum to be extremely valuable as I had never lived or worked in that type of environment, and didn't know what problems the school had to deal with on a daily basis. Looking toward the future, one improvement for teacher preparation programs could be a required lab experience for all potential science teachers. This would be especially important for high school teachers as I find many have no practical lab experience, and that training could improve the learning experience for their students.

Manju replied.My Teachers' training program in New York had a strong component onclass management. On the contrary, I believe the programs should be geared to generate pasisonateteachers whose enthusiasm and niche are infectitous to create life-long leraners. Colleges should make most of great resources andencourage teachers to develop a sense of confidence amongst studentsto try new things regardless of whether students succeed or not. Thereshould be strong emphasis on independence and challenging preconceivednotions. Students should take pride that comes with discoveries.Teaching pedagogies should be based on imagination and exchange ofideas. Students should be willing to put their thinking on the tablewhere it can be dissected and analyzed. Students should appreciatethat learning is a puzzling through process that requires finding waysthrough counter-intuitive ideas. There should be "aha" moments thatstimulate students to come back to the classrooms. Teaching programsshould encourage values of dialogue rather than take down notes andcopy.Technology should be an integral component of the future teachingprograms.

I began teaching prior to having any formal teacher preparation. My first teacher preparation experience came when I started working towards my Masters in Arts in Teaching Biology (MATBio). I worked on my Masters during nights while teaching science fulltime at a local highschool. It was extremely challenging, but I found that teaching while taking education and science courses helped me to directly connect course work to classroom more easily. If I had taken these preparation education courses prior to teaching, I don't think I would have got as much as I did out of them.

Teacher preparation today needs to require students to teach while receiving training. Preparation should include training in how to individualize education and how to provide advisory services to students.

I wish I had received more training on ways to better individualize education. The best training in individualized education is not conceptual but provides the teacher with actual ways to implement a teaching style that caters to the needs to every student.

In addition, I think that teachers today need better preparation in how to advise students. Advisory is a major platform that is currently being imposed on teachers. Many teachers feel that they are inadequate to advise. Many teachers also do not feel like they have had proper training to deal with students that come to them with personal problems (after the advisor-student relationship is reached).